do this again. And, you know, if that’s okay with you. Because no pressure at all. I mean, we each just bought a box of condoms, so—”
“Nora?”
“Yeah?”
“Hush.”
“Okay.”
“Anytime you want to have sex, with or without condoms, you just let me know, okay?”
“So, just like splash my way into the cove and break down your door demanding sex?” She laughed.
“Works for me. Or call me.”
“Are you going to give me your phone number?” she teased.
“I am. I might even start checking my messages.”
Chapter Thirteen
Nora spent Thanksgiving with Eve, Sawyer, and Clara, and Jake, Art, and Jamila.
It was a little bit awkward.
Apparently Sawyer and Clara, who had been on their zown since Sawyer was a teenager and Clara was little, often spent holidays with the Ramsey family. And Eve had been folded into the flock once she and Sawyer got together.
Now they were folding Nora in, too. Because she was new in town and had no plans and they were nice people. Not because she was together with anyone.
Or at least not in the way they imagined.
She shot a glance at Jake. She had been trying not to do that.
He didn’t notice. They were all clustered around the kitchen island at Art and Jamila’s house, munching on appetizers while Jamila fluttered around, refusing any help to get dinner ready. Jake was staring at the counter and nursing a beer.
She didn’t know if he was always like this—if this was part of the gruff, silent persona other people always remarked on—or if her presence was making things weird. She’d tried to refuse the invitation, but Eve and Sawyer wouldn’t let her.
He wasn’t just nursing the beer, he was sliding a thumbnail under the edge of the label and working it back and forth.
Oh God.
She had discovered this thing in recent days. Or Jake had discovered it. Anyway, it had been discovered. It involved her clit, which he paid a lot of attention to generally, but once, by accident, he’d sort of scratched it. She must have responded in such a way as to inspire him to do it again. And now there was a move, for lack of a better word. He would get her all worked up and then back off and play hard to get. After enough whining on her part, which he seemed to enjoy more than he really had a right to given that he was basically torturing her, he would gently scrape his nail—that very thumbnail he was now dragging back and forth over that beer label—over her clit. And she would blow. She would detonate. And he would smirk.
She hated it.
Aw, who was she kidding? She loved it. Just thinking about it made her squirmy.
“You don’t do Thanksgiving with your family in Toronto, dear?” Jamila jolted Nora from her dirty imaginings. She was bent over basting the turkey as she spoke, which gave Nora a moment to get her act together. Don’t look at Jake. Don’t look at Jake.
“Well,” she said, hoping her face wasn’t reddening, “my brother, my father, my grandma, and I are doctors. And my mom’s a nurse. My sister is the only one who doesn’t work in a hospital. It’s impossible for everyone to get the holiday off, so we don’t even try. We used to celebrate it on American Thanksgiving in November—my mom was born in the States, so there was a connection there—but everyone always thought that was too close to Christmas. So we do it on an alternate weekend, and now it’s a full-on tradition.” Which she wasn’t going to say too much about, because their “alternate weekend” was always the weekend after Thanksgiving, which meant she was going to miss “Walsh-giving” this year. She was signed up to cover the inn for Eve and Sawyer’s vacation—which she’d done without realizing the conflict. And she wasn’t about to renege on the folks who were giving her free housing. Her family was mad at her, but they’d get over it.
“Sounds eminently logical,” Eve said.
“So how have you been finding Moonflower Bay?” Jamila asked.
“Great,” Nora said. “Everyone’s been very…welcoming.” Don’t look at Jake. Don’t look at Jake.
Jake had been very welcoming just this morning. And the day before that. And before that. They were doing a really good job with third base. Or home base, or whatever.
They were like teenagers in heat, basically.
In the week since their dinner at the cove, they had been jumping each other every chance they got. Going out of their way to jump each other.
Which was all